Four-wheel drive mechanism.



u.-.s. BULLARD FOUR WHEEL DRIVE MECHANISM.

APPHCATION men MAY 1} 1945.

Patented Apr. 18, 1916.

0. 8. BULLARD.

roux WHEEL DRIVE mcHAmsM.

' APPLICATION HLED MAYl. 1915. L 179;?9 hemmi Am: 18, 12%.

(imam/eater aNotnm:

lvikwzona o r f ir- 5 "I l lvl ii iii l l FOUR ViHEEE DRIVE MECHANISM.

jlp'plication filed May 1, 1915.

mocha hides. object in View being to provide in combine ion with frontand rear driving axles, driving mechanism for imparting romotion, to thefront and rear axles While at the same time providing for the variationin sp ed of the sections of both and enabling the .,l'\"lllg power to bedistributed equally to the front and. rear Wheels.

One of the principal objects of the present invention 0 provide noveldriving niechanisni-bem en the front axle and the Front driving and, stering Wheels of the machine wing of the ready turning 'o'l ti. 9. 1111;;Wheel knuckles without interlinfing in the slightest with the drivingmechanism for the front wheels, the invention also emlihdying a novelconstruction and. relatine arrangenwnt of front axle llOljtSl andsteering knunkles whereby the motion transinitting or driving gears areeil'ieiently housed and protected from dust. dirt and other foreigni'nalt ter, all. parts of or vehicle. adrni the transmitting gearsbetween the front axle and the steering wheels being acressible easilyrenewable.

' h the above and other objects in View, he invention, consists in thenovel. construetion. combination and arrangement of parts, as hereineileserilied. illustrated. and claimed.

In the am-viunpanying drawingsz-Figure l is a plan view of the itian'i'eandrmi-ning gear of an ai'itoniobile equipped with the gin-sentinvention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same partly broken away.Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragn'ientary plan View showing portiors of one ofthe fr ont steering whmils. a Siiib. i115: knuckle and the front axleand gear l'1o1i. "ns. Fig. 4- is a horizontal section. through the sametaken just above ll 3 61! l" on the driving axle. l ig. 5 is a vertis' lS'Prtiofl taken about in line with the liiivingji; axle and wheeldriving spindle. "in: i an enlarged fragmentary emotion Mating thepacking and compressing Specification of Letters Eatent.

"in for automobiles and similar veis connected to the from Serial No.25.288.

erally at A and the front li'lifei'vntial gearing designated genera lv:2 ii. the A and B being identieal in (zoos-trio ion lint disposedreversely to h other as shown in Fig. l. at is to say, too main or largegear a of the rear differential gearing facesin the op iosite (lireetionfrom Clio mirrosponding gear Z of the front dillerential gearing. Thisis done in order to distril'iute the Weight equally and also equalizethe strain or torque between the shaft 6 and the front and. rear drivingThe shalt G of sectional oonstruction and is provided at its rearextremity with a pinion a meshing with the gear a and is provided at itsfront extremity with a ninion 1/ meshing with the gear Z). The Sl'lltfll6 comprises an inti'armediate section (3 which t and rear sections ofthe shaft 6 by means of universal joints 0 and (1. Associated with thecentral section (Z which is divided between its ends, is what I termintermediate dillerential gearing C upon the top of which I prefer tomount the casing D of the lllil llSllllilOn gearing from which the driveshaft of the machine extends forwardly to the (7illt('l1, the last namedshaft not being shown Each section 7 of the front axle mount ed in anaxle housing 8 as illustrated in Figs. 3, 41: and 5 and has fast on itsouter wings extremity a gear 9 shown in the form 01. a

shown in Fig. 1., are .oom'ieeted in the usual way by a rod so as tocause an equal turning ,mor 'eznent of both knuckles and therefore the"front steering and driving wheels.

l designates Wheel driving spindle on which one of 15%?- itront singdriving wheels is fastened, said spindle being {g knuckle designatedjournaled on a stud shaft 17 the inner end of which is threaded at18into the lower part of the steering knuckle E as shown in Fig. 5. Thehollow spindle 16 revolves upon the stud shaft 17 and is provided at itsinner end with a gear 19 shown in the form of a bevel gear.

20 designates a transmission gear which is provided with an upper gearface 21 and a lower gear face 22, the gear 9 meshing with the upper gearface 21 and the lower gear face 22 meshing with the gear 19 on the wheeldriving spindle 16. The wheel 20 is provided with an extended hub 28through which passes a knuckle pivot, pin or shaft 24 to which the wheel20 is fastened by means of a key :25.

A bushing 26 is inserted through the upper fork arms 10 and 12 as shownin Fig. 5 and is threaded at 27 into the top wall 28 of the gear housinghereinafter referred to,

the upper extremity of the bushing 16 being,

threaded to receive an internally threaded end cap 29. Anothercorresponding bushing 30 is inserted through the lower fork arms 11 and13 and is threaded at its lower.

extremity toreceive a'cap 31 similar to the cap 29. The upper end ofrthebushing 30 is threaded at into the lower section 33 of the gear housing.The pin or shaft 24: turns within thebushings 26 and 30 as the knuckleswings in the operation of steering the machine. These bushings may berenewed as they become worn.

The axle housing 8 is provided at each endthereof with an extensionforming the upper section 34 of a gear housing and the knuckle'E is alsoprovided with an extension to form the lower section or portion 35 ofthe gear housing, the said sections 34% and 35 together forming ahollowcylindrical housing for the gears 9, 19 and 20. In order to effectivelyexclude dust,v dirt and other foreign matter from the gear housing,

the upper housing section 34 is flanged as shown at 36 to surround thelower housing section 33 and'is also rabbeted as shown to' receive apacking ring 37 and also internally threaded to receive an externallythreaded packing compressing ring 38 the inner face of which ridesagainst the outer face of the bottom housing section 33. The knuckle Eis formed with a gear pocket 39 i to receive the gear 19 above describedand the outer end of said pocket is closed by a cap plate 40 whichcarries a bearing 41 for the vehicle driving spindle 16 as shown inportion open wardly and rearwardly extending sections of the shaft 6. Inthis way driving power; is equally distributed and applied to all fourwheels of the machineJ Jt will also a be understood that the means fortransmit ting the rotary motion'of the front axle sections to the; frontdriving and steering wheels is accomplished by extremely simple gearingwholly-inclosed within a housing the sections of which serve to excludeall. dirt, dust and foreign matter'andalso retain oil or other lubricanttherein in which the gears run. The parts of the gearing, just referredto are accessible and renew "able for the purpose of taking up wear.

What I claim is:-

In a four wheel drive mechanism for en;

gine driven wheeled vehicles, the combination of a driven front axle, ahousing for said axle having fork arms at each end thereof, a steeringknuckle at each end of said axle having fork arms, a knuckle pivotconnecting said fork arms of the axle housing and knuckle, a'vehicledriving and steering wheel carried by each knuckle, a driV? ing spindlefor said wheel, a gear fast on said spindle, a gear fast on the adjacentend of the driving axle, and almotion transmitting gear journaled onsaid knuckle pin as a center and having two oppositely arranged gearfaces one of which meshes with the gear on the driving axle, the othergear face'meshing with the gear on the Wheel driving spindle, saidknuckle embodying an integral and cylindrical gear housing por-' tionopen at the 'topand the axle housing embodying a complemental gearhousing at bottom, one of said portions being enlarged to receive inoverlapping relation an inter-fitting edge of the other portion, apacking ring carried by one of said portions, and a packing compressingand retaining ring also carried bythe same portion.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

OTTO BERT BULLARD Witness:

Bnxxn'r'r 9. .1 ONES.

